'Hobos to street people'
GAVIN: Blanket drive part of event
| Friday, Dec 04 2009 01:21 PM
Last Updated Friday, Dec 04 2009 01:22 PM
GO & DO
What: 'Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present'
When: Opening reception 6 p.m. Thursday, with no-host bar and appetizers
Where: Bakersfield Museum of Art, 1930 R St.
Admission: Free to members, $10 for nonmembers
Information: 323-7219
INSIDE
Art can be, and often is, a reflection of the world around us. Often, it has the power to open our eyes, to draw us in for a closer look at issues we might otherwise turn away from.
Homelessness is one of those issues and it is the theme of a collection of five exhibits that opens Thursday at the Bakersfield Museum of Art.
Isolation and the sense of loss that goes along with being displaced or homeless is the overall focus of the exhibits. About 35 artists, past and present and from various parts of the country, are represented. Their work covers a span of 75 years from the Dust Bowl migrants of the 1930s to the street people of today, with an emphasis on California.
"Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present" is the title of the core exhibit.
In one sense it is a documentary composed of images that show the parallels between different eras of American history.
Art Hazelwood of San Francisco, the curator, says many of the artists whose work is shown in "Hobos" have experienced homelessness and poverty, have worked with organizations that combat poverty and see their art as a way of drawing attention to poverty.
"That art can have a function in society by engaging in a struggle for a better world and that everyone should take an interest in the well-being of less fortunate people are the twin beliefs of the artists in this show," said Hazelwood in a news release.
Familiar scenes from our own community are illuminated in "Society's Edge," an exhibit of photos taken by Californian photographer Felix Adamo over a period of about 30 years (Adamo writes about this personal project in an accompanying column). His photos will be for sale with all proceeds donated to the Bakersfield Rescue Mission and the Bakersfield Homeless Center, said Beth Pandol, spokeswoman for the museum.
"No Place to Go: Paintings of the Homeless," is a compilation by artist Pat Berger, done over a period of five years in the 1980s on skid row in Los Angeles.
"Loss and Redemption: The Art of James McMillan" is a portrayal of racial injustice and the desolation that results from it, especially of the 1950s and '60s. Rounding out the five exhibits is "Exquisite Garden," figurative sculptures by Joe Brubaker.
In keeping with the exhibits' theme of homelessness, the museum will host a blanket drive on opening night, Pandol said. Attendees are urged to bring new or gently used blankets, which will be given to the Homeless Center.
